George-Sandizm

[Romy Taylor]

Francoise,

I think your final idea - excessive or suggestive eroticism - may be closest.

In 1847, Pavlova had written an invective to Rostopchina, accusing her  
of being a "zhorzh-zandistka," e.g., "sebe zhivete bez pregrad":  
traveling, emancipation, independence from husband.  But in _Double  
Life_ (1847-8) I think the mother is more worried about Cecilia  
becoming comfortable with her own sexuality.

yours,
Romy Taylor


Quoting Francoise Rosset <frosset at WHEATONMA.EDU>:

> Would some Pavlova/Sand experts out there illuminate something
> for me, please:
> On page 119 of _A Double Life_, (B. Heldt's translation) Vera
> Vladimirovna confiscates two of Dmitry's letters to Cecily, deeming
> them to have "a certain unpleasant strain of George-Sandism, which
> it was necessary to keep from her daughter up to the wedding itself"
>
> I know who George Sand is and have indeed read her as far back
> as high school. I even taught _Francois le champi_ in a French lit
> class. What I don't know is what would be understood or described
> in this Russian reception, given what GS had and had not yet
> written by 1848 ...
>
> [The one prior time GS is mentioned in the novel (80) it is because
> she made the common folk chic, but that's not relevant here].
>
> So:
> feminism? would Ivachinsky care?
> her defense of "misalliances?" would be too close to the bone.
> liberal tendencies? Ivachinsky does not seem to me to have one
> political nerve in his body, although political posturing is not out
> of the question.
> "excessive" or suggestive eroticism? hardly likely in a letter from
> Ivachinsky to his presumably innocent fiancee -- but it would
> explain the bit about keeping it from Cecily only until the
> wedding and not after ...
>
> Help?!
>
> Feel free to answer on-list
> or off-list at frosset at wheatonma.edu
> Many thanks,
> -FR
>
> Francoise Rosset
> Russian and Russian Studies
> Coordinator, German and Russian
> Wheaton College
> Norton, Massachusetts 02766
> Office: (508) 285-3696
> FAX:   (508) 286-3640
>
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